Compromised Recordings Versus Purist Recordings – If It’s About the Music, the Choice Is Clear

Skeptical Thinking Is Key to Finding Better Sounding Records

UPDATE 2026

This commentary was written circa 2006. The Hot Stamper world was very different then. A few dozen had been done starting in 2004, and probably not nearly as well as they should have been, truth be told.

This was unexplored territory, a new world. At the time we had no way of knowing how much there was to learn and how much time and effort would go into learning it. Thousands of shootouts later we have a pretty firm grip on how to go about finding the best sounding pressings of the greatest music ever recorded. Those recordings, the ones that have stood the test of time, are why this blog exists.

Our Story, Circa 2006

A while back one of our good customers wrote to tell us how much he liked his Century Direct to Disc recording of the Glenn Miller big band, one of the few truly amazing sounding direct discs offering music actually worth listening to. Which brought me to the subject of Hot Stampers. 

Hot Stamper pressings of jazz or popular music are almost always going to be studio multi-track recordings, not direct to disc recordings of live performances.

They will invariably suffer a great many compromises compared to the purist approach of an audiophile label trying to eliminate sources of distortion in the pursuit of the highest fidelity, in this case the loss of sound quality caused by the use of a tape recorder.

But when they do that, they almost always fail.

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Anatomy of a Failed Shootout

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Beethoven Available Now

By the early 2000s we had finally come to the conclusion that the RCA pressings of the Beethoven 7th offered the best combination of sound and performance we could find.

By 2024 we had enough copies — seven in total — to do a shootout. The best copy we were able to salvage from this debacle is described, perhaps too generously, below.

This Decca-recorded, Shaded Dog pressing of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 debuts on the site with big, spacious, and lively Double Plus (A++) Living Stereo sound or close to it.

Side one is doing just about everything right – it’s rich, clear, undistorted, open, and has depth and transparency to rival the best recordings you may have heard, and side two is not far behind in all those areas.

The full stamper sheet shown below makes clear what happens when your luck just plain runs out. The Soria pressings were by far the best — they were the only ones to earn 3+ on either side — but side two of all three copies we played was defective, rendering them all but worthless.

When RCA recut the record for their regularly priced Living Stereo release, LSC-2536, the dropoff in sound quality was profound, a fact readily seen from our notes. (“Rich but bright, side two is worse.”)

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Sibelius – Symphony No. 2 / Paray

More Mercury Classical Recordings

  • Paray and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s lively and dynamic performance debuts on the site with INCREDIBLE Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound throughout this early Maroon Label Mercury Stereo pressing of SR-90204
  • It’s also fairly quiet at Mint Minus Minus, a grade that even our most well-cared-for vintage classical titles have trouble playing at
  • This spectacular recording is big, clear, rich, transparent and energetic – the bottom end is especially strong and dynamic
  • Here is the Mercury sound we love, sound that is not easy to find, regardless of what anyone else will tell you
  • Huge, immediate, and natural – with a record this good, your ability to suspend disbelief will require practically no effort at all

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“I was immersed. Thank you.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Beatles Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about a Hot Stamper pressing of Revolver he purchased recently: 

Dear Sir,

You know when everything is just right? The record, the equipment, the space between your ears. The speakers disappear, the room, even yourself? And the only thing left is the music?

It doesn’t happen that often these days, but it did for me listening to side one of your UK Revolver. I was immersed. Thank you.

Dear Sir, 

Fantastic to hear, we love when that happens, to us and to anybody else of course. It’s the same high that gamblers get from winning big, and it keeps us audiophiles going until the next time it call comes together that way.

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Brahms – Variations On A Theme By Haydn / Hungarian Dances / Dorati

More Mercury Label Classical Recordings

  • Dorati and the LSO’s performance of these classical works debuts on the site with a lush, tubey, and dynamic Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) side one mated to a solid Double Plus (A++) side two
  • Both of these sides have an abundance of energy, loads of detail and texture, remarkable transparency and excellent clarity – all qualities the best classical pressings have in abundance
  • What both sides did not have in our shootout was a huge, dynamic, powerful low end
  • Side one is the only side that had the bass deserving of a top Mercury — consequently no copy earned a 3+ grade on side two
  • The sound is big and open, and like so many Mercury recordings with the London Symphony, it’s rich and full-bodied, not thin and nasally as is so often the case with their domestically recorded releases

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“Soul” on OJC Is Yet Another Bad Gary Hobish Recut

Hot Stamper Pressings of Jazz Recordings Featuring the Saxophone Available Now

Not long ago we dropped the needle on a copy of the album you see pictured and thought the sound was not good enough to please the serious audiophiles we cater to, especially at the prices we charge.

As far as we can tell, based on just a couple of copies, “Soul” is not an album that would be worth the trouble and costs associated with finding, cleaning and playing enough copies for a shootout.

We can’t say that there aren’t good sounding pressings of the album though. If we happen to hear a good one down the road, we would certainly consider spending the money to do a real shootout in order to make the better copies available to our customers.

Perhaps you have a pressing of the record you like. If so, please tell us more about it. You can email me at tom@better-records.com

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Professional Skateboarder Danny Way on Flow

Confessions of a Thrillseeking Audiophile

This quote comes courtesy of Shane Parrish’s Brain Food newsletter.

“Skateboarding is a game of failure. That’s what makes this sport so different. Skaters are willing to take a great deal of physical punishment. We’ll try something endlessly, weeks on end, painful failure after painful failure after painful failure.

“But for me, when it finally snaps together, when I’m really pushing the edge and skating beyond my abilities, there’s a zone I get into. Everything goes silent. Time slows down. My peripheral vision fades away. It’s the most peaceful state of mind I’ve ever known. I’ll take all the failures. As long as I know that feeling is coming, that’s enough to keep going.”

I expect that Danny would understand exactly why someone would want to go into a room to listen to a record by himself. Good sound tends to make everybody in the room stop talking.

Exceptional records take it to the next level. They cause those in the room to to go silent in order to listen more intently — because the music and the sound demand it.

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Back to the Stone Age with The Pines of Rome on Mobile Fidelity

Hot Stamper Pressings on Decca & London Available Now

An audiophile hall of shame pressing and another MoFi LP reviewed and found wanting.

MoFi’s version of this The Pines of Rome (#1-507) is one of the worst sounding classical records they ever produced, and that’s saying something, because practically all of their classical catalog is just awful — thin and bright, with sloppy bass and completely unnatural string tone.

As hard as it may be to believe, the MoFi of the Pines of Rome makes the typical Classic Records pressing sound good, shrill strings and all.

The UHQR is somewhat better, especially in the lower octaves, but it’s maybe a D+ or C-, not an audiophile record if we are using the term to mean what it no longer means —  a pressing with higher quality sound. (more…)

Paganini / Caprices / Ricci

More Imported Pressings on Decca and London

  • A Whiteback second label London pressing with rich, textured, and dynamic Double Plus (A++) sound from start to finish
  • It’s also impossibly quiet at Mint Minus to Mint Minus Minus, a grade that practically none of our vintage classical titles – even the most well-cared-for ones – ever play at
  • This copy showed that it had the balance of clarity and sweetness we were looking for in the tone of the violin – it is so rich, natural and real, you will forget you’re listening to a record at all
  • These works are performed with skill and passion by the incomparable Ruggiero Ricci, one of our favorite violinists
  • These are practice pieces – if you want real music written for the violin, we have plenty of albums to choose from that should fit the bill

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Tears for Fears – The Hurting

More  of the Music of Tears for Fears

  • Very good sound for TFF’s debut album, with both sides earning Hot Stamper grades – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Classic tracks like “Mad World,” “Pale Shelter,” and “Change” have stood the test of time – they’re played in TFF’s concerts to this day (we saw them not that long ago)
  • We guarantee there is more space, richness, presence, and performance energy on this copy than others you’ve heard or you get your money back – it’s as simple as that
  • 4 1/2 stars: “…powerful pieces of music, beautifully executed in an almost minimalist style…an exquisite sonic painting sweeping the listener up in layers of pulsing synthesizers, acoustic guitar arpeggios, and sheets of electronic sound…”

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